#MenToo: \'Karan’s rape accuser dealt in voodoo\'

MUMBAI: When actor Karan Oberoi’s rape accuser was recently blamed by her own lawyer for staging an attack on herself and “practising black magic”, she strenuously denied the allegations in a message to TOI, claiming she only performed “prayers, chanting etc which is (sic) beneficial to people”. But a former follower of the woman and her “retailer-client”, speaking on condition of anonymity, now say that the rape accuser is “an expert in witchcraft” and often uses her alleged “powers to extort, threaten and intimidate people”.
TOI tried to contact the woman on Friday with the fresh allegations, but she did not respond.




The ex-follower showed TOI various messages shared by the woman on social media groups where she speaks of “casting a spell”, using an “escape goat for blood sacrifice in witchcraft” and utilising certain powders with a view to causing destruction. All such activities and practices are outlawed in Maharashtra under the Anti-Superstition Act and constitute a criminal offence punishable with a prison term.



According to the ex-follower, the woman presents herself as a healer and runs a business; her circle of clients purportedly includes over 40 “retailers”, who sell her products ranging from powders and oils to divorce candles, skulls and coffin nails claiming powers to subdue an enemy, bring back straying lovers or turn a flagging business around; the woman advises clients across India, and frequently travels overseas to obtain material for her “rituals”; she has also published a book, which describes her as an expert in, among other things, “voodoo and witchcraft”.



The ex-follower said the retailers, who were part of several social media groups, were not only expected to buy the products in bulk and sell them, but also expected to participate in workshops to “learn” rituals. “Some workshops, like the ‘demonic’ workshop, had an introductory price of Rs 80,000, going up to Rs 1.5 lakh, while other simple ones were for Rs 5,000-10,000,” the now-disaffected follower stated. The workshops or sessions would be livestreamed on an app.



The ex-follower said that until recently, she claimed to sell “powders that, if slipped into a shoe, could purge your enemy or oils which, slipped into a bath, could bring your love back”. “There were also skulls on sale, where you could put your enemy’s name and something bad would happen to them. She also sold divorce candles in various colours, depending on whether you wanted someone to divorce you, or your lover to divorce a spouse, etc.”

The ex-follower also showed group chats that revealed that the woman frequently banished those inactive on her groups or those who didn’t show interest in her sessions. That apparently meant “social boycott” by the other followers too. “She would publicly humiliate them and throw them out of the group. We all feared her anger and were scared that awful things may happen to us,” the ex-follower said.

One of the messages allegedly posted by the woman on a group stated, “I am just too angry on someone and that’s why asked everyone’s assistance to destroy this person completely. Collective energy is always better.” Another message, produced verbatim here, read, “I am in a destruction space right now it’s just that I am stopping myself to rip apart few people. And those who have done my fc (family constellation) class knows exactly what I can do when I am in the mode of ripping ppl over… In demonology workshop we ripped a person ever since the he has not been able to get up of the bed and mind it he was a very big tantric.”

One of the woman’s sessions, as per the ex-follower’s claims, was on “intoxication spells for: money, love, return a love… make someone reveal the truth…” and meant for those with “a hang of spell casting” for an “introductory fee” of Rs 21,000. The ex-follower also said that a powder the woman sold was called “Tied up and nailed”, meant for use in love or enmity, and another was named “Please me always”, targeted on one’s “significant other”. The ex-follower was eventually left disillusioned by these claims and her actions.